Building a Global Citizens Movement

As citizens, global and local, and participants of the ‘Building a Global Citizens Movement Johannesburg Conference 2013’, we acknowledge our responsibility for the planet and for humanity and we take responsibility for our individual and collective actions.

We are happy to share with you the “Building a Global Citizens Movement Compass”. This declaration was formulated by 200 participants in the Johannesburg Conference convened in November 2013.

The overall aim of this conference was to initiate a global coalition for citizen’s empowerment for change, which would grow and become consolidated over a two years period.

The objectives were:
a. Vision: Exchange, and possibly agree, on a joint narrative of the world we want, and the world we don’t want;
b. Linking: Establish and reinforce cross-continental networks towards a global movement of citizens for change;
c. Learning: share approaches and practices on emancipatory campaigning and learning.

As you can read in the document below, the very first sentence of the Compass acknowledges our responsibility for the planet and for humanity and our responsibility to conduct individual and collective actions. It defines global citizenship as having rights that should be the same for all peoples and responsibilities that are proportionate to their possibilities.

The conference is considered as an ongoing process for the 200 participants so that they can get involved and engage with the issues over a long-time frame. In fact, a subgroup on Global Citizenship Education was created in order to give input to the UNESCO Education Framework post 2015.

Building a Global Citizens Movement
Towards a World Citizens Movement
The Johannesburg Compass: questions and orientations
[PDF 529KB]

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